For the last few years, parishioners of one local church have been left to worship a bit "on their heels," but a recent court ruling may be putting an end to a dispute over church endowments and whether the congregation can continue to call its present Macomb property home.

In late 2008, 60 percent of members of several congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, including what is now St. George's Anglican Church, 231 E. Carroll St., in Macomb, left the diocese and the Episcopal Church. Legal proceedings began in March 2009 for the Episcopal Church to attempt to reclaim property and assets from the breakaway groups.

In an Adams County Circuit Court decision made public Sept. 10, Judge Thomas Ortbal ruled the Episcopal Church had no claim to local property and that there is no provision in the church's Constitutions or Canons prohibiting a diocese from withdrawing from the denomination.

Father Jason Miller, rector at St. George's in Macomb, said his congregation had been stuck in a cycle of "when the litigation ends," and that now, whether or not there's any potential appeal, they're moving on as if the recent decision is a done deal.

"We've been up in the air since the litigation as to whether or not we would be allowed to continue in our building," he said in an interview Friday. "There was a lot of concern, and it's really unfortunate. It's kind of put us on our heels some. We have not pursued some things in mission and ministry that I like to think we would have otherwise."

As an example, among the ideas that weren't pursued in recent years, Miller said, was a "cry room" that'd allow parents who leave the group with their small children a place to still worship. But it's something he said they can now likely make happen.

The Rev. Paula Engelhorn, rector and priest with the Episcopal Church of Macomb, where some former St. George's parishioners began worship after the congregations split, said on Monday she wasn't surprised by Ortbal's decision, and that neither were many members of her congregation.

"I would like people to understand all we really wanted was our property back, and we don't wish anyone any harm," she said. "We don't want to do anything to any group. We just know by our Episcopal Canons and rules that the property is Episcopal."

Misconceptions

While much of Ortbal's decision delves into the Episcopal Church's hierarchal structure and a diocese's right to leave the church, Miller said the matter is much simpler for St. George's parishioners. The litigation, he said, had been distracting, and though members of the splitting congregations have retained friendships, there have been some misconceptions among the public over who's had a right to keep the building.

Page 2 of 2 - It "really bothered" members of his congregation, Miller said, but many now hope the recent ruling will be taken by people as an understanding.

"I know for the diocese the funds have been a real challenge. We've been operating on a shoe string budget for years now," he said. "This building is not just some place we happen to get together once a week and go home. It's a place where God has met them."

And being able to remain at that place of worship, where they have memories, Miller said, has been a relief to parishioners — those like Don Dexter, who's been going to St. George's since the late 1950s.

Dexter, a retired surgeon, sits on the church board as treasurer. On Monday, he attested to what the building means — that it's more than just where the small congregation of nearly 40 people gathers weekly.

It's where their children are baptized, it's where they're married, where funerals are held, and despite some facility expansions, it's the same building that's stood for worship over decades.

"We're all just delighted," Dexter said of Ortbal's decision. "(But) we haven't changed our worship at all since we came here 55 years ago. It won't. It will continue just as it has been."

The ruling out of Quincy echoes one that's hit other areas across the country.

But the real "disheartening part of this story," Miller said, is that the issue was even in the courts to begin with. To the outside world, it'd become about the litigation and not only the worship. It's an "us versus them" connotation he hopes isn't interpreted as the identity of St. George's.

"No one in the church is jumping on the roof and pointing at someone and saying, 'Ha ha, it's ours not yours,'" Miller said. "I think it breaks God's heart and it ought to break ours as well. The church is not perfect. In the end, we don't want anyone to think that's what this is about."